In addition to common functions like exp and log, MATLAB® has several other related functions to allow flexible numerical calculations.
The expm1 and log1p functions compensate for numerical round-off errors in small arguments,
while the reallog, realpow, and realsqrt functions restrict the range of these
functions to real numbers. nthroot calculates roots of any order, while the
specialized functions pow2 and nextpow2 calculate powers of two.
exp | Exponential |
expm1 | Compute exp(x)-1 accurately for small values of x |
log | Natural logarithm |
log10 | Common logarithm (base 10) |
log1p | Compute log(1+x) accurately for small values of x |
log2 | Base 2 logarithm and floating-point number dissection |
nextpow2 | Exponent of next higher power of 2 |
nthroot | Real nth root of real numbers |
pow2 | Base 2 power and scale floating-point numbers |
reallog | Natural logarithm for nonnegative real arrays |
realpow | Array power for real-only output |
realsqrt | Square root for nonnegative real arrays |
sqrt | Square root |
This topic shows how to compute matrix powers and exponentials using a variety of methods.
Graphical Comparison of Exponential Functions
This example shows an interesting graphical approach for discovering whether e^pi is greater than pi^e.